No Pennsylvania agency currently protects endangered insects and other terrestrial invertebrates. New legislation would fix the regulatory gap

There aren’t as many American bumble bees (Bombus pensylvanicus) as there used to be in the state the insect is named after. The big black and yellow bees are in decline, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature rating the species as vulnerable. Although the American bumble bee might need protection in Pennsylvania, there is currently no government agency able to coordinate its conservation, or that of any other land-dwelling invertebrate (animal without a backbone).

The American bumble bee isn’t the first bee to find itself in trouble. Through most of the 20th century the rusty patched bumble bee was common throughout the Northeast and Midwest. But then its populations went into a tailspin, leaving only a few hanging on in small patches of its former range. In 2012 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared that the bee was at risk of extinction, and it was listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Getting listed under the ESA is kind of like gaining membership in an exclusive club with benefits that other — less threatened — plants and animals can only dream of. It is suddenly illegal to possess or kill listees. Their habitat is protected, and government and private foundation dollars earmarked for extinction prevention fuel research into the ecology and needs of species that previously flew under the radar.

All of this can also happen at the state level for species at risk of local extinction (extirpation), even before their survival is endangered nationally. For example, the Allegheny woodrat is endangered in Pennsylvania, though not yet nationally. The same is true for dozens of plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates.

Having a state agency involved can also help coordinate the intervention for federally-listed species such as the bog turtle or the northern riffleshell mussel. State-level protection is not available, however, for bumble bees and other invertebrates that live on land. “It’s a regulatory gap,” says Rosemary Malfi, policy director at the Xerces Society, a nonprofit devoted to invertebrate conservation.

That omission will be corrected if legislation introduced by Chester County State Representative Chris Pielli becomes law. House Bill 441 would task the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) with conserving and protecting Pennsylvania’s “wild native terrestrial invertebrates.” DCNR would also be required to investigate the status of these invertebrates to determine whether they need protection.

We don’t fully know the benefit of these millions of types of insects.”

— Chris Pielli, PA State Representative  

Rep. Pielli’s interest was first piqued at an Insect Extravaganza held at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in 2023 to showcase the conservation needs of insects and other invertebrates. He walked away with a copy of “Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse” by Dave Goulson. “I read it, and I was just floored regarding what can only be called an insect apocalypse,” Pielli says. He was also impressed by the importance of the often-ignored critters. “They play a vital role in our ecosystem: pollinating crops, recycling dead animals and waste and maintaining soil. They are a source of food for fish, birds, frogs and more, and then there’s the unknown. We don’t fully know the benefit of these millions of types of insects.”

In Pennsylvania three separate agencies manage protections for at-risk species depending on where they sit on the tree of life. The Pennsylvania Game Commission looks out for mammals and birds. DCNR covers plants, and the Fish and Boat Commission handles amphibians, reptiles, fish and aquatic invertebrates.

Malfi and Pielli noted that with no agency taking action to help endangered insects, Pennsylvania is missing out on federal funds that support endangered species conservation, such as the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund.

The commonwealth is home to thousands of species of insects, spiders and other invertebrates. There are more than 2,400 documented species of butterflies and moths alone. As for bees, there are more than 450 species recorded in Pennsylvania according to Margarita M. López-Uribe, associate professor of entomology at Penn State University. A few — such as honey bees, carpenter bees and the commonwealth’s 18 bumble bee species — are big and attractive enough to garner public attention, but the majority are tiny bees that, in spite of their ecological significance, escape notice, such as the 110 species of sweat bees. López-Uribe oversees the Pennsylvania Bee Monitoring Program, which collects information from trained volunteers. “In three years we’ve increased our knowledge of bee distribution, non-native species coming into the state, and species we’re not seeing as much of.”

Introducing the bill in the Environmental and Natural Resource Protection Committee of the State House is just the first step of what Rep. Pielli, a Democrat, calls “sort of a long and arduous path.” If the committee voted to move the legislation to the overall State House for a vote there and it passed, an analogous process would then need to take place in the State Senate. “I know that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle aren’t perceived as great proponents of environmental bills like this, but truly in my opinion it is a bipartisan issue,” Pielli says, pointing to the benefits of pollinators to agriculture across Pennsylvania.

López-Uribe is reluctant to say what species she thinks ought to be protected if the bill becomes law. There is simply too little known about the vast majority of them to draw conclusions about population trends. A few common species, though, do seem to be growing more scarce, such as the bicolored striped sweat bee. “Even in my 25 years as a scientist, it used to be abundant, but it seems to be becoming less abundant.”

No one is absolutely sure what devastated rusty patched bumble bees, but disease transmitted to the wild bees from commercially-raised bumble bees of other species used to pollinate tomatoes and other greenhouse crops is the lead contender, followed by habitat destruction and insecticide use. No one is sure what’s killing American bumble bees either, but in 2021 the Fish and Wildlife Service declared that it would review the insect’s status, an initial step towards listing it as endangered.

If HB 441 becomes law, Pennsylvania could join the effort to protect the American bumble bee and other similarly threatened animals. “When a state has authority and someone clearly in charge of taking care of vulnerable invertebrates,” Malfi says, “the goal is keeping those species off the federal endangered species list. State agencies are the first line of defense.”